The Case for Red Dead Redemption 3 to Break the Franchise’s Most Defining Tradition
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Highlights
- Red Dead Redemption 3 could break tradition by giving fans a protagonist with a more uplifting end to their character arc, let alone a protagonist who does not die by the end.
- The deaths of John Marston and Arthur Morgan added weight and memorability to their stories, but a similar fate for the next protagonist may not fit the themes of RDR3.
- Using Jack Marston as the main character in RDR3 would allow the franchise to explore a rapidly changing world while showcasing the meaningful redemption of all three characters.
Given the success of the franchise as a whole, it is no wonder that so much fan-led discussion takes place around Red Dead Redemption 3, despite the game not even being officially confirmed. There is a huge range of potential narrative threads, settings, and characters that the title could explore, creating its own identity while paying homage to its predecessors.
It is clear that Red Dead Redemption 3 would have to take some bold measures to stand out against Red Dead Redemption 2, and the title could be the perfect time to break one longstanding tradition that the past two games famously employed. With the previous two Red Dead protagonists meeting brutal and cruel ends, a third game would be wise to break the cycle and finally give fans redemption that they can be happy about.
Red Dead Redemption 3: Breaking the Protagonist Cycle
While the environments and atmosphere of the Red Dead franchise are a huge point of appeal for many players, the characters within them are what really make the games tick. The likes of John Marston and Arthur Morgan have gone down as some of the most beloved and complex protagonists across the gaming industry as a whole, with their stories being as endearing as they are tragic.
The lives of both John and Arthur were extremely similar, right down to their untimely demise. Of course, John Marston was famously killed in a shameless double-cross within Red Dead Redemption‘s shocking ending, while players had to watch as Arthur Morgan slowly succumbed to his battle with tuberculosis throughout the later events of Red Dead Redemption 2. This gave the endings of both titles serious weight and memorability, forcing players to really think about the consequences of the game’s narratives and the long-lasting impact they have on the characters within them.
While the deaths of John and Arthur played well into the Red Dead themes of the Old West dying, it is time for the franchise to give its next protagonist a more uplifting end to their character arc. If Red Dead 3‘s main character was to meet the same fate as John and Arthur, the franchise would fall into the trappings of predictable endings, and a death like this may not be the best fit for the themes that RDR3 will likely explore.
Many have assumed that the story and setting of Red Dead Redemption 3 will have to look to the future instead of the past, with the end of the Wild West already being thoroughly explored. There is room for the franchise to do this if it uses Jack Marston as its main protagonist, telling the tale of Jack after avenging his father while having to deal with a rapidly changing world and the fallout of his traumatic childhood.
This setting would sadly lose the cowboy-centric traits of past games, but could still explore things like the First World War and the new breed of “outlaw” gangsters in the 1920s. Killing Jack at the end of such a title would be a big misstep when considering the sacrifices that John and Arthur made to ensure that Jack lived a more fulfilling life than themselves. Jack is essentially living proof that the actions of past RDR protagonists were worth something, and his survival in a potential Red Dead Redemption 3 could be the best way to ultimately portray a meaningful redemption for all three characters.
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